Employee First Customer Second

Worlds most modern management idea

For tune Magazine

Quick Facts

Quick Facts
HCL Technologies is a leading global IT services company with over $2 billion revenues.

Quick Facts
HCL Technologies is a leading global IT services company with over $2 billion revenues. In February 2005, Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies announced a radical new philosophy, Employee First, Customer Second (EFCS).

Quick Facts
HCL Technologies is a leading global IT services company with over $2 billion revenues. In February 2005, Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies announced a radical new philosophy, Employee First, Customer Second (EFCS). Through this philosophy the aim was to create a unique employee organization, drive an inverted organizational structure, create transparency and accountability within the organization, and encourage a value driven culture.

Why it began?
HCL realized that in service industry the value gets created not in the back oce but in face to face interaction between the customer and employees. Hence it is important to empower employees so that they deliver more value to the customers. When an employee is delighted, he will delight the customer. This gave birth to a path breaking philosophy called : 'Employee First, Customer Second, termed by Fortune as "The most modern management idea".

Five pillars of
Employee First philosophy

Employee First Initiatives

Employee First Initiatives

Smart Service Desk

An automated query resolution mechanism for employees. SSD enables employees raise their concerns for adequate redressal in just three clicks. On an average 31,000 tickets are raised every month.

i4excel
Employee performance portal which handles end to end appraisal process of all employees. 24,000 appraisals are completed in 30 days in 2007 vs 9,200 in 45 days. i4excel transparently shares ratings and views of managers manager (reviewer) with the employee.

Directions
Directions is an annual company-wide event that takes strategic discussions out of closed-door meetings to all employees. The CEO and the leadership team present at these meetings share the vision and strategy of the company as well as respond to questions in interactive sessions. Directions allows everyone in HCL to speak the same language and understand how their individual contributions t in a larger organizational framework. Vineet, CEO HCL Technologies takes two weeks each year to prepare for the event and spends another two weeks attending Directions events across the world.

U&I
A two way dialogue mechanism between CEO and the employees. Nearly 90% questions have been answered by Vineet himself. He spends 7 hrs. in a week replying to the queries raised. U&I started a reverse blogging, where in CEO posts questions to the employees.

EFC
Employee First councils work on goals that are of common interest to all employees and also help maintain a balance between work and life. The councils allow employees to unleash their creative talent. Last year over 1,500 events were conducted by EFC councils.

Women First Council

The purpose of this council is to focus on women development and to create an inclusive, supporting and caring environment. A women exclusive website was launched which has information of all women related policies, safety and security measures, work-life balance techniques.

Career Power
A comprehensive career planning and development program, which provides a framework where each employee is empowered to plan desired career path.

O2 league of Extraordinary
O2 is a system created in HCL to recognize high performers. The league constituted those employees who have been outstanding performers since last 2 years.

Xtramiles
HCLs created a unique reward and recognition portal where all employees can see extraordinary eorts & performances and appreciate them at a click of a button. The purpose of Xtramiles is to ensure timely and public instantaneous recognition of employees who have displayed exemplary performance.

MITR
MITR lends helping hands to all HCLites and their family members by providing them expert counseling 24X7 on any issue concerning them.

Genie
The personal assistant, the all purpose coordinator, the private shopper, the entertainment guide, the travel planer, located within the oce premises & programmed to take any request. Genie can manage all trivial and not so trivial chores.

F.U.N.D.O.O. F.R.I.D.A.Y
Is synonymous with fun @ work at HCL Technologies.

Weekly Polls
Polls are conducted on weekly basis to gather employee feedback on various issues. The results are shared on the intranet and guide decision making.

Catalyst
A employee driven team building program, catalyst enables much of the desired work-life balance for his/her team by rolling out various activities in a year.

Training
HCL has adopted a number of innovative methods of training and developing talent within the organization. The extensive program includes: Five methods Computer Based Training, Instructor Led Training, Web Based Training, On the Job Training and Blended Learning. Four tracks in Campus, Fresher, On-going, Re-skill. Three streams Technical Training, Domain Training, and Behavioral Training. Two channels Leaders Teach (an internal training program), Talent Transformation and Intrapreneurship Development Team.

Open 360 degree feedback

HCLs annual survey of 20,000 people across the company rates 1,500 managers on 20 aspects of their performance. There is nothing unusual in running such a process. But what is unusual is that the results of the survey are aggregated and published online for every employee to look at This is a simple change in practice, but one with profound consequences. For the manager, there is nowhere to hide if he or she gets negative feedback. Most managers take the feedback very seriously and make changes; a few choose to move on 360-degree feedback is not linked to the annual appraisal or to the compensation package. It is open for everyone to see, and that is enough to encourage changes in behavior.

Results
HCLs attrition rate has dropped signicantly for nine consecutive quarters. Employee utilization rate and revenue/employee has seen an increase . Through Employee First initiative, HCL strives to provide excellent human resources leadership and expertise to the organization, and also attract and retain a workforce that is diverse, inclusive and committed to creating quality customer service.

Results
Employee First is featured as the Worlds Most Modern Management Idea by Fortune Magazine and termed as Disruptive Force by a leading analyst group.

Key Learnings
Make yourself the example Vineet Nayars idea of making 360 degree feedback public online was designed to hold managers accountable. The rst year Nayar posted his own review before asking his team to follow. Put your time on line Vineet spends about seven hours in each week to answer questions asked by employees. Technology Leverage technology to make life simple. Automate process and empower employees to raise there voice. Changes Put in place a series of small changes that will potentially have a dramatic eect on how people work.

HCL Employee First initiative reveals how innovation can apply to organization systems as well.

For more information visit

www.employeefirst.in